Ranchi, March 6: It is not just one or two shops but most major sweet shops in the city are offering sugar free sweets.

It’s proof enough that when it comes to health consciousness, Ranchi is not lagging behind. The attempt is a blessing in disguise not only for the calorie conscious but also those who are genuinely forced to go off sweets for health reasons like diabetes.

Arun, the manager of Chinar’s Sweet Shop, says: “We have about 50-55 varieties of sweets available at our counter. Of them, approximately three or four are the sugar free varieties.”

Some of the sugar free sweets that Chinar’s has on offer are kalakand, kacha gola and peda.

Subodh Majhi, proprietor of Chappan Bhog at Amravati Complex, Lalpur, says: “The sugar free Kesar kalakand, sandesh and the gond laddoos of our shop are preferred by customers who demand low-on-calorie sweets.” Bholu Bhai, the largest chain of sweet shops in Ranchi, too, has two or three varieties of these low-on sugar sweets.

Although most of the retail outlets of Bholu Bhai do not necessarily keep all the sugar free varieties at their counters, their main outlet at Kadru has two or three varieties to offer.

But almost all of them agree that more awareness needs to be built regarding the benefits of sugar free sweets. Gautam Dhar, a resident of Burdwan Compound and diabetic for over nine years, says: “Although the sugar free varieties are life-savers, when it come to satisfying my urge to have sweets, I simply squeeze the syrup out of the rasgulla.” Manish Kapoor of Chinar’s, admits that even the diabetic like to try out the rasgulla again and again, instead of the sugar free sweets. Majhi agrees with him.

“So that these sweets do not go waste, we keep them in small quantities,” he says. Another reason being that the sugar free sweets are low on durability. Kailesh, one of the salesmen in Bholu Bhai, Kadru, says: “The number of customers who demand these sweets is not so high but we do have our regular customers.”